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Sunday, 24 September 2017

In spring this year I saw an advert to submit artwork for the National Open Print Exhibition at Bankside Gallery in London and thought: "Why not?". So I decided to send them 6 images of my handmade prints, including my very first artists' book which I wrote about in one of my previous posts. You can understand how excited I was when I heard my book was accepted to be exhibited!

Organic Book by Fenfolio

Organic Book by Fenfolio

Last Tuesday I met my mum in London who came over from The Netherlands just to be at the preview. It was such an amazing experience and lovely to have shared this with her!

Entrance of Bankside Gallery

Catalogue cover

Catalogue page with artists' works

Me and my mum with my artists' book at the preview

Display table

My artists' book on the display table

The preview was very well attended. We met a few other artists and the prize winners were announced (unfortunately I wasn't one of them).

The preview night

The preview night

As it was so busy it was quite difficult to take a good look at all this beautiful artwork so the next day we came back.

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Earlier this month, when I was visiting my parents in The Netherlands, I had the opportunity to see the paper art exhibition at CODA Museum in Apeldoorn. It's a biennial exhibition (runs until 29 October 2017) that puts visual art made on and of paper centre stage.

CODA Paper Art 2017 brings together the work of 31 artists from The Netherlands and abroad. Some artists reflect on paper as a material, while others use it to tell their story. Sometimes current issues inspire the artist but just as often the work of art is the result of material research (source: CODA Paper Art 2017 Catalogue).

My latest art pieces have been made from paper and this winter I'll learn more about laser cutting so this exhibition came at the perfect time. Below are the works of artists that stood out for me:

Veronica Hodges
Nature is an important source of inspiration for her work. Installation Seaweed in the sky reminds us of the beauty of nature which is always subject to change.

Seaweed in the Sky by Veronica Hodges

Angela Glajcar
She explores the possibilities of creating a 3-dimensional image with 2-dimensional parts. With sheets of ripped and colourless paper, she creates a massive sculpture that communicates with the space, light and shadow. The title of the work uses two terms; terra and perforation. Terra as in terra incognita (new territory and process) and perforation is shown in the way she treats the material.

Terforation by Angela Glajcar

Terforation by Angela Glajcar

Terforation (close-up) by Angela Glajcar

Terforation (close-up) by Angela Glajcar

Ina FekkenHuizinge 3,6 is a burnt paper installation. The spectator can discern gas rigs drilling their way up in the cut-out sheets of paper. Together they form a gas pipe with the same diameter as the pipes used to transport the gas that is extracted from the soil of Groningen (Northern region of The Netherlands).

Huizinge 3,6 by Ina Fekken

Huizinge 3,6 (close-up) by Ina Fekken

Frank Straatman
He mainly makes spatial work in which human figures appear regularly. Distortion and instability play a big role in his work. Soul sister is made with cardboard, tape, wax, wood and polyutheraan.

Soul sister by Frank Straatman

Miriam Londoño
She focusses on the regugee crisis with depictions of streams of refugees and the routes they travel with works she made using strands of paper pulp. Miriam is an immigrant herself.

Refugees by Miriam Londoño

Refugees (close-up) by Miriam Londoño

Refugees (close-up) by Miriam Londoño

Uncertain Routes by Miriam Londoño

Uncertain Routes (close-up) by Miriam Londoño

Naomi Mcintosh
She calls her pieces portable drawings as she is always looking for the transition of two dimensions into three dimensions. The necklaces are made from paper and wood.

Parallel Jewellery Collection by Naomi Mcintosh

Cara Johnson
The Jewellery of this artist tells a unique story about a specific place. Nature and human intervention are important subjects in her work. For example, she buried one necklace made from wood and paper in a mining area for a month. The red earth stained the work.

Jewellery by Cara Johnson

Jewellery by Cara Johnson

Jewellery by Cara Johnson

Pao Hui Kao
In her installation Paper and Water she examines the strength of paper. She embarks from the idea that water always represents a threat to paper. Kao's research however shows that water changes the fibrous structure of paper in such a way that it actually makes it stronger.

Paper sculpure by Pao Hui Kao

Paper sculpure (close-up) by Pao Hui Kao

Paper sculpure by Pao Hui Kao

Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu
Her paper creations are at the borders of painting, relief and sculpture. From a distance the abstract forms appear to be slowly moving away from the wall and occupy the space. Up close you become mesmerised by the endless working of the paper and the many details she applied with great precision.

Paper sculpures by Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu

Paper sculpure (close-up) by Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu

Paper sculpure (close-up) by Mia Wen-Hsuan Liu

Jiangmei WuLight Harvest is a magnified version of the protein complex that plays an important role in photosynthesis. She combines paper with video projection.

Light Harvest by Jiangmei Wu

Vienna Romanée
With her piece Datanaaiproject she focusses on the concept of time. It consists of cut out strips of newsprint bearing the days of the week and data that she sews together with human hair.

Datanaaiproject by Vienna Romanée

Datanaaiproject by Vienna Romanée

Datanaaiproject (close-up) by Vienna Romanée

Datanaaiproject (close-up) by Vienna Romanée

Elke Lutgerink
She pushes the boundary between fantasy and reality. Plant and animal life are her sources of inspiration which she translates into more abstract versions. She creates fairylike figures from catalogues, magazines and wrapping paper. Log was made out of paper from a TEFAF catalogue.

Log by Elke Lutgerink

Log (close-up) by Elke Lutgerink

Log (close-up) by Elke Lutgerink

Kumi Yamashita
Her wall installation Origami consists solely of sheets of origami paper and a light source that guarantees the face-shaped shadows on the wall. A simple sheet of paper symbolises the essence of who we are. This sheet can be folded into an infinite number of shapes, just like people appear in many guises and forms.

Origami by Kumi Yamashita

Origami (close-up) by Kumi Yamashita

Origami (close-up) by Kumi Yamashita

Lilian Vlaun
Her spatial work 12°32'19.7"N 70°3'47.5"W consists of papier mâché boulders imitating the rocks found on the beaches of Aruba where she is from. Her work poses questions about culture versus nature and real versus imitation.

12°32'19.7"N 70°3'47.5"W by Lilian Vlaun

12°32'19.7"N 70°3'47.5"W (close-up) by Lilian Vlaun

12°32'19.7"N 70°3'47.5"W (close-up) by Lilian Vlaun

And after seeing so many beautiful artworks it was time to share our experiences and relax in CODA's funky café!